There are many new mediation syllabi on the DRLE website.
There now are two pages for these syllabi.  One page is for courses focused on the perspective of neutrals and the other focused on the perspective of representatives in mediation.  Both webpages have separate sections for simulation and clinical courses.
The webpages include a lot of syllabi for clinic courses that people sent me for a forthcoming article on mediation instruction.
In a continuing series of articles, I encourage colleagues to increase instruction of the perspective of representatives, and the separate webpage is designed to help folks incorporate it…
Continue Reading New Mediation Syllabi on DRLE Website

Posting on behalf of the AAA:

I am writing to inform you of a wonderful opportunity for second and third year law students.  On November 9 and 10, 2024 the American Arbitration Association is holding its Annual Diverse Student ADR Summit in New York.  For more information click here.  Accepted students will receive a scholarship for up to $2,000 to cover travel to and hotel expenses in New York.

Please forward this attachment to students who may be interested or post this information in any forum where you know it will be accessible to the students.

Questions regarding the Summit should…
Continue Reading AAA’s Diverse Student ADR Summit

For a forthcoming article about law school mediation courses, I developed a list of key values and principles that I think people in our field generally share.  They are about the roles of practitioners – including both mediators and attorneys – when working with clients in mediation.  Faculty can advocate them in any mediation course and practitioners can apply them in their work.  The following list is adapted from the article.

Mediation of cases involving legally-represented parties is an ensemble process including active roles for parties and attorneys who are actors with human agency and understandable concerns.  They should not…
Continue Reading Shared Values and Principles in Mediation

Ohio State’s Program on Dispute Resolution is thrilled to invite you to the 2024 Lawrence Lecture on Dispute Resolution featuring Georgetown Law Professor Ariel Eckblad!  Register here: https://go.osu.edu/eckblad.

Scheduled for Tuesday September 17 (beginning at 12:10 eastern), Professor Eckblad will present “The Water We Swim In: Negotiating Power and Possibility”. Here is a brief description:

The rise of authoritarianism. The accelerating climate crisis. The on-going internecine and international conflict. These intersecting calamities seem to at once cleave existing fissures while highlighting the criticality of collective action. Key to understanding and repairing these fissures is the question of how resources…
Continue Reading Georgetown’s Ariel Eckblad to Deliver Moritz’s 2024 Lawrence Lecture

Posting my short article, The Important Role of Attorneys in Promoting Parties’ Self-Determination in Mediation, on the NYC-DR listserv prompted several reactions.
This post highlights and elaborates some points in my article.
Why Law School Faculty Should Increase Instruction in Mediation Representation
I’m a retired law professor who mediated and taught mediation for years.  The main purpose of my article was to encourage law school faculty who teach mediation to increase their instruction about how attorneys can promote good decision-making by representing clients in mediation.  About 90% of law school mediation instruction focuses on the neutral role, with relatively…
Continue Reading Attorneys, Mediators, and Self-Determination

From my colleague, Rachel Wechsler:
The Journal of Dispute Resolution is seeking articles related to labor and employment dispute resolution for its 2024 Writing Competition.
The winners will be published in the Winter 2025 Issue of the Journal of Dispute Resolution.
Writers should send submissions to [email protected] with the subject line “2024 Writing Competition.”
The deadline is September 6, 2024 at 11:59 PM.
There is a $3000 prize for an author in academia or professional practice and a $1000 prize for a current law student or graduate student.
This competition is sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators Research and…
Continue Reading Journal of Dispute Resolution Writing Competition – September 6 Deadline

What about Mom and apple pie?  For or against?
Most people take for granted that all these things are indisputably good (at least in theory) though we usually don’t think much about why.
Not so with Andrew Mamo.  He recently published Unsettling the Self:  Rethinking Self-Determination in Mediation, which deeply analyzes the meaning of self-determination.
Riffing on Andrew’s article, I wrote a 5-page piece, The Important Role of Attorneys in Promoting Parties’ Self-Determination in Mediation.
I suggest that instead of using the term “self-determination,” which is an admirable but unattainable ideal, that we should focus on promoting “the best…
Continue Reading Are You in Favor of Self-Determination in Mediation?

Regular readers will remember that a little over a year ago Carrie Menkel-Meadow (UC-Irvine) warned us that the Negotiation Journal was in crisis, and its demise was a real possibility.  Today she announced that it survived and come out the other side.  It is now an open access journal hosted by MIT and PON.  Talk about a huge relief and a big win for the field.  Big thanks to Carrie, James Sebenius (Harvard B-School), and our friends at PON Silvia Glick and Lara SanPietro.  For your convenience, Carrie’s email making the announcement is below as is Lara’s follow-up…
Continue Reading The Negotiation Journal’s Rebirth

The University of Missouri’s Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution will hold its 40th anniversary symposium on Friday, October 25.
It’s entitled, “Dispute Resolution at Forty:  Looking Back, Looking Forward,” and features an indisputably all-star cast.  Here’s the lineup.  The starred characters are Mizzou student and/or faculty alumni.
Welcome:  Paul J. Litton
Remarks:  Ilhyung Lee
Panel I:  The Traditional Non-Traditional Forms of Dispute Resolution
Alyson Carrel ** (double-dip:  JD, honorary LLM)Andrea SchneiderSarah Rudolph ColeMichael Z. Green
Panel II:  How Can the NextGen Bar Exam and Changes in Licensing Promote Innovation in Legal Education?
Brian Pappas *Kellie Early *John…
Continue Reading Come to Missouri’s 40th Anniversary Symposium on October 25

Partnership aims to transform access to family law dispute resolution for underserved communities

The American Arbitration Association and Suffolk University Law School are launching a pioneering Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) Innovation Clinic. This initiative combines Suffolk Law’s expertise in legal technology and clinical education with the AAA’s leadership in alternative dispute resolution innovation, technology, and artificial intelligence —including through its newly acquired ODR business, ODR.com. Suffolk Law and the AAA will create an accessible, digital process for low-contest divorces and family law matters in Massachusetts.

Addressing a Critical Need

The ODR Innovation Clinic targets a pressing issue in the legal…
Continue Reading American Arbitration Association, Suffolk Law and ODR.com Launch Online Dispute Resolution Innovation Clinic

Some of you may have seen the news articles (e.g., here and here) in the past day or so reporting on a motion to compel arbitration brought by Disney lawyers in a Florida state court wrongful death case. The widow of a woman who suffered a fatal allergic reaction at a Disney World restaurant is suing Disney claiming it is responsible for her death.

Disney moved to compel arbitration of the dispute, arguing that a broad arbitration agreement that the woman’s husband e-signed five years early when he signed up for the Disney + streaming service covers the current…
Continue Reading Disney+ to Disney World “Infinite” Arbitration Clause

The Journal of Dispute Resolution recently released Issue 2 of Volume 2024.   Here’s a list of the articles in this issue.  Click here to access them.   Take a look.
Alternative Dispute Resolution in Agency Administrative Programs by Kristen Blankley, Kathleen Claussen, and Judith Starr
Arbitration and the Mandatory Law Problem: A Mixed Mode ADR Approach by Hossein Fazilatfar
How Can Courts–Practically for Free–Help Parties Prepare for Mediation Sessions? by John Lande
Comments
Mandatory Mediation in England and Wales: A Paradigm Shift in Dispute Resolution by McKayla Bogda
We’re Getting SUED??? *emotional* *with proof*:  Using Alternative Dispute Resolution in Child…
Continue Reading Latest Articles in Journal of Dispute Resolution

Donna Shestowsky (UC Davis) recently announced the winner of this year’s AALS Section on ADR “best scholarly article” award. That award goes to Inga Laurent, An Absence of Accountability, 54 (1) Seton Hall Law Review 137-200 (2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4252910

She also noted that the author has been invited to present the winning article at the AALS ADR Works-in-Progress (WIP) conference at McGeorge this fall. 

Congratulations to Professor Laurent (Gonzaga)!
Continue Reading Winner of AALS Section’s Best Scholarly Article Award for 2023